Family History
by SilverMidnight52
Summary: After years of listening to his brother Christopher finally decided to take his advice. Read warnings


A little Christopher and Cade one-shot that I was asked for. I just love their relationship and there's so much that you can do with Chris!

Warnings: Mental Heath, Talks of Suicide

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Drumming his fingers against the armrest Chris glared up at the ceiling not wanting to remember exactly where he was at the moment. Being in a doctors office was never his favorite thing to do, but it was even worse when he was there for a specific reason.

When he first came in for the tests all those weeks ago he had already been in a less that happy mood. He wasn't the type of person to run and hide from his problems, but this was the one thing that he never wanted to face himself. He had seen it in too many people to want to do that for himself.

At the same time though he knew that ignoring it all was the worst plan in the end. Though that was exactly what he had been doing since he was eighteen and finally moved out. No one could really say he was lying if he said he went to see the doctors.

Well, his father and stepmother couldn't say it. Cade, on the other hand, could see right through him. His brother never called him out in front of other people, but he never stopped letting Chris know that he wasn't happy with what the man was doing.

It was odd in a way. For the most part he took care of his older brother. That was just the way that it was and he really didn't mind it. He liked knowing that he was the one that his brother turned to when he needed help. That was why he became a cop in the first place. He liked being the one that people trusted to protect them.

There were only a handful of times where Cade acted like the older brother that he was. Usually it happened when he thought that Chris wasn't taking care of himself. The amount of time he got a phone call from his brother telling him off for doing something stupid was astronomical.

It always warmed his heart knowing that he still cared and thought about Chris. Even when he was at his worst he wanted to be there for the agent. Cade had even said, on more the one occasion, that it was his job to protect Chris from himself.

Surprisingly enough for someone that disliked people taking care of him and being babied Chris didn't mind his brother doing that for him. At least he didn't until that caring landed him in the middle of a doctors office waiting for test results.

He felt as if he had been waiting for the doctor to show up for hours even though he knew it couldn't have been more than ten minutes. He wasn't really known for being all that patient under normal circumstances, but knowing what was at stake made it all the worse.

All he wanted was to get some answers to something he shouldn't even have to worry about. It was a LaSalle family trait though. One that could only end badly if he didn't try to face it as soon as possible.

He had fought against Cade's questions and rants for quite some time, but this was the first year that he saw just how much it was worrying the older man. That was the last thing that he had ever wanted to do. He just didn't want to face it.

Why couldn't Cade have just left him? Chris was perfectly healthy. He had to be in order to work with NCIS. Every few months he had to talk to someone about the cases they worked and at least twice a years he had to get a full physical. He was fine.

The only problem with that was none of the doctors were looking for something specific. Yes, his family's history was in his file, but it wasn't something that was brought up either way. Unless he said something it was left in the footnotes. He would gladly leave it there.

Even now that he was sitting and waiting for the results all he wanted to do was get up and leave. He didn't want to know the answers to those particular questions. It was better for everyone if they all just ignored them.

Well, that was what he was going to tell himself. It wasn't as if anything would change If he knew the truth. He was still going to do his job until he couldn't and then… No, he wasn't going to think about what happened after that.

Cade, on the other hand, didn't fall into that line of thinking. His brother refused to let him stick his head in the dirt and live his life. A sigh fell from his lips as he dropped his eyes so he was looking at his brother sitting next to him.

He was just trying to help in his own way, but it felt different. In the back of his mind Chris knew that if there was anyone that would be able to understand what was feeling it was his brother. Still, he didn't really want to deal with any of it. All he wanted to do was believe that he was perfectly fine.

The truth though was that he had no idea if he was okay. All he knew was that he was in his thirties and he was acting like a child would. Running and hiding at the first sign of trouble and he couldn't bring himself to care.

"Chris?" Cade called reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder, "You okay?"

"I don't want to be here," Chris admitted knowing that his brother would see through his lie and not even bothering.

"I know, but this will be good. I promise."

"What if..."

"Don't worry about any of that yet, little brother. Whatever happens we can face it. You'll be fine no matter what."

Chris wanted to believe his brother so badly, but he knew the truth. If the results turned out a certain way then his job was going to be called into question. He could never put people at risk like that. No matter what it meant for him.

"Sorry about the wait, Mr. LaSalle," Dr. Jovic offered walking into the office with a smile, "You must be his brother."

"Yeah," Cade replied with a nod of his head looking slightly uncomfortable himself.

"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. LaSalle. Alright, I've gone over your test results and your file and I wanted to make sure the information was correct before we got further into it. You have a family history of mental illness, correct?"

Glancing over at his brother Chris took in how he looked at the moment. If he thought he wanted to run than the other man looked even worse. Though that wasn't shocking. The man had been through this more times than he had.

"Cade is bi-polar," Chris told motioning towards the man next to him, "And my mother's side has a history of..."

"Early on-set dementia," Cade filled in softly.

"Alright, you used to get tested a lot when you were younger."

"Dad worried a lot. He wanted to find any signs early so we could treat them. I stopped awhile ago."

"I can see that. It's been almost twenty years since your last test. What changed your mind? Have you been showing symptoms?"

"I..."

Chris tried to start his sentence, but he found that he couldn't figure out what to say. It all felt like too much and he had no idea what he was supposed to do. He really hated having these kinds of conversations.

"I convinced him to," Cade jumped in after a pregnant pause, "I don't know the symptoms all that well, but I know what it's like to have something like that take over your life and I don't want that to happen to Chris."

Nodding his head Dr. Jovic wrote something down before looking back at his files. A shaky breath left Chris and he hated himself for it. It shouldn't be effecting him as much as it was. He should be able to stay calm. Instead he was freaking out.

"Your mother had dementia? Do either of you know how long she was exhibiting symptoms before she was diagnosed?"

Blinking a few times Chris looked over at Cade not knowing the answer. He didn't really remember all that much about what life had been like with his mother. The few memories that he did have was after she was already showing symptoms.

"She was about thirty-seven," Cade started with a sad smile, "But she started to forget things that she had already been told about a year. It wasn't until… Until she forgot Chris and me that Dad finally took her to the doctor."

Chris felt his eyes go wide at that. He had no idea that that happened. In his mind he knew that forgetting people was a normal symptom to forget people, but he hadn't known that his mother had forgotten her children.

"She killed herself not long after that," Cade continued softly his head dropping down to his chest.

Dr. Jovic nodded his head writing down what his brother had said. There were so many questions running through Chris's head as he tried to think back on the time he spent with his Mom. How could he not remember something like that?

"Okay, Mr. LaSalle," Dr. Jovic said pulling Chris out of his thoughts, "Everything you just told me says that we should be paying close attention to your mental health. With your history there is a higher likelihood that you could develop dementia. That being said looking over your tests at the moment in time I can't see anything that we need to worry about."

Chris couldn't help but deflate at that a relieved smile coming to his lips. Feeling a hand come to rest on his shoulder he looked over and saw Cade grinning back at him looking just as relieved as he did.

"That being said," Dr. Jovic continued drawing their attention back to him, "Since your mother was about your age when she first started showing symptoms I would like to go over what you should be on the look out for as well as showing you things like games and different types of food that are shown to improve healthy brain cell functions. Are you ready for that?"

"Lay it on me, Doc," Chris said taking a pamphlet the doctor was holding out to him, "Tell me what I should be doing."


End file.
